ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Prompted by the death of 7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, the House passed legislation Monday night forbidding a licensed pilot from turning over an airplane's controls to a child trying to set an aviation record.
Jessica was attempting to become the youngest person to fly across the country when her single-engine Cessna crashed April11 after takeoff in an icy rainstorm near Cheyenne, Wyo. Her father, Lloyd, and flight instructor, Joe Reid, died with her.
The bill, passed 395-5 and sent to the Senate, prohibits anyone who does not hold a valid pilot's license and medical certificate from attempting to set a record or engaging in an aeronautical competition or feat. The minimum age for obtaining a pilot's certificate is 17.
Licensed pilots who turn over the controls to a nonpilot trying to set a record would have their licenses revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration.
``We cannot legislate good judgment into the minds and hearts and souls of pilots, but we can erect some strong barriers,'' said Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, the senior Democrat on the House Transportation Committee.
Federal investigators said Jessica's four-seat plane appeared to be carrying more weight than was safe. They said Reid's injuries suggested that he, not Jessica, was piloting it at the time of the crash.
Jessica, of Pescadero, Calif., 40 miles south of San Francisco, attracted great publicity with her plans to fly from Half Moon Bay, Calif., to Falmouth, Mass.
The bill, by aviation subcommittee Chairman John Duncan, R-Tenn., and Rep. William Lipinski, D-Ill., would still permit children to take a plane's controls - under the supervision of the pilot in charge and under circumstances other than a record attempt or competition.
``I think we have a balanced approach that focuses on the media-driven publicity stunts without imposing additional regulations or undue restrictions on the entire aviation community,'' said Duncan, R-Tenn.
The FAA is directed within six months to complete a study of the impact of children flying aircraft. Many pilots begin taking lessons in their mid-teens. There have been 178 accidents since 1964 involving pilots younger than 17.
``It may very well be appropriate for us to establish a minimum age'' to pilot an aircraft, said Lipinski, the aviation subcommittee's ranking Democrat.
The House also passed two other aviation bills. One, approved 401-0, would require an airline, before hiring a pilot, to check the applicant's records, including proficiency tests, physical exams and drug and alcohol tests.
It was a Dec. 13, 1994, American Eagle crash in North Carolina, killing 15 people, that brought attention to the problem of airlines not sharing data on pilots.
The crash was blamed on pilot error. Investigators later determined that the pilot had been forced out of another airline, but American Eagle did not know that when it hired him.
``The pilot ... had a history of similar pilot errors,'' said Rep. Fred Heineman, R-N.C. ``If the pilot's training records had been shared, 15 people might not have died.''
Pilots would have the right to see their records and make corrections if they found errors.
The other bill, passed 400-0, would reauthorize funding in 1997, 1998 and 1999 for the National Transportation Safety Board. It includes a provision that would help the government collect flight-recorder data from flights to uncover problems not normally found until after an accident. The provision empowers regulators to keep the normal flight data confidential.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Dubroffby CNB